31 Days to Become a Better Pastor: Observe a Sabbath

One of the best decisions I have made is to observe a Sabbath. A Sabbath is not just a day off. A day off can easily be filled up with other stuff. A day off is not necessarily a day of rest.

A Sabbath is a 24-hour period of rest and focus on God. Obviously Sunday is a challenge to have as a day of rest. I have Monday as my day off and so I take Sunday noon to Monday noon as my Sabbath. I’m not legalistic about it. But I take the time to rest, avoid social media and spend quality time with my family. There are times I have to do things during this period but it is a good goal for me to aim to.

I find it interesting that no pastor would advocate breaking any of the other Ten Commandments but many pastors wouldn’t hesitate to break the Sabbath commandment. God created us with a need to rest and if we want to be effective as pastors, we need to take that need seriously.